The Cape Charles Town Council met this Thursday and approved expenditures for two big ticket items, the third offshore breakwater, and a small section of Mason Avenue that was purchased from Patrick Hand’s Strawberry Street Station project (former Meatland grocery store). The Mayor and Council attempted to gloss over much of the standard departmental reporting, due to the fact that a huge chunk of time was taken up by the Cape Charles Business Association’s President, Andrew Follmer, who gave a lengthy, yet circular presentation (which captured many of the points one might expect to find on an undergraduate Marketing 101 slide deck downloaded from an non-accredited junior college) on lessons learned from this summer’s tourist season. For the average Joe sitting in the audience, the takeaway from this presentation was, that despite a very good season and upward profits (docking fees up $15,000 , meals tax up 18.6% , and the hotel Transient Occupancy Tax up 47% ), the citizens are still not doing enough to support the merchant class in its quest to fill the greasy till. Follmer spent several minutes chastising the Town for not hiring more dedicated staff to perform professional functions like marketing the Town’s ‘Brand’, and checking the Town’s Facebook status.
[Read more…]
Archives for October 2015
DOG FOUND ON RT 13 NEAR EYRE HALL
DOG FOUND: a Labrador was found on RT 13 near Eyre Hall on Sunday Oct. 11 around noon. The people that found the dog still have it. If you have any information or have lost your dog, please contact the folks that found the dog at 757-286-8811.
Ripped Net leaves Bunker washed up on Beach
Last Wednesday, part of the Omega menhaden fishing fleet, the John Dempster was “pulling in hundreds of thousands of menhaden from the bay” when its net ripped and dumped about 75,000 dead fish into the water. According to Omega, this kind of accident happens two or three times a year. Many of the Bunker washed up on our Beach over the weekend.
FOOTBALL: Broadwater dismantled by Isle of Wight 60-26
Despite being able to hang tough with a physically superior Isle of Wight team through most of the first half, the speed,strength and execution of the Warrior squad proved to be too much for the Vikings. Thing looked promising as the Vikings marched down the field and scored a tying touchdown with under two minutes left in the first half, but when Isle of Wight took the ball and scored with only few seconds left, extending the lead to 32 -26, that seemed to take all the wind out of Broadwater’s sails.
Isle of Wight scored on the first drive of the second half and never looked back. Down 42 – 26 late in the third quarter, the Vikings drove to the Isle of Wight seven yard line, but after three incompletions, and then a missed field goal, the fate of the game was sealed. Despite what appeared to be a lopsided score, Broadwater Academy fought hard until the final whistle.
Once again, the Viking offense has proven it can score points with a powerful ground game and fluid passing attack, however, pass defense has been the achilles heel, and has just given up to many chunk plays to recover from.
Broadwater hosts Portsmouth Christian next week for their homecoming, 1:00 at Bynum Field.
In other local action, the Northampton Yellow Jackets lost a non-conference game to the Middlesex Chargers of 57-27.
The Yellow Jackets host the Chincoteague Ponies next Friday at 7:00.
MIST OF TIME: Assistant Town Manager took part in scam to bilk Federal Government
Cape Charles Mirror Report – Wayne Creed
Based on a year 2000 internal report by the U.S. Navy Inspector General, Cape Charles Assistant Town Manager Robert Panek, then a high ranking civilian in the Navy Budget Office, was part of a scam that attempted to allow two friends to retire prematurely and start taking pensions early. The report is quoted as stating that the scam is a case of senior Navy executives “taking care of their own.” The report charges “manipulation of the federal retirement system.” The Inspector General’s report notes that three top Navy civilians attempted to manipulate the retirement system to help their friends retire early. Cape Charles Assistant Town Manager, Robert Panek was one of the members involved in the scheme.
Editor’s Note: After this topic was thrown over the transom by unlikely sources, some of this was confirmed by a Defense Week article by John M. Donnelly in August 2002, “Top Navy Execs Tried To Bilk Retirement System”. Most, if not all information in this Mirror story is derived from that year 2000 Defense Week article. The original article can be found on Free Republic here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/735634/posts.
Defense Week obtained the Navy Inspector Generals (IG) report and the bonus information via the Freedom of Information Act.
Community Trail of Lies
Cape Charles Mirror Report – Wayne Creed
Since the town of Cape Charles has announced plans to spend $1 million dollars to complete the Cape Charles Community Trail, which, once it extends south to Peach Street could eliminate over 25 parking spaces in the commercial district, it may be helpful to look back on the historically fraudulent and marginally illegal activities that have led to the implementation of this project. Given the many needs our community faces, funneling these funds into what on all accounts appears to a pet project favored by a cloistered few, seems highly questionable. At a local level, the trail project has been hampered by poor decisions, basic incompetence, and fraught with waste and abuse, however, none of this could have occurred without the knowledge, and tacit approval of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond.
While the bumper sticker slogan of the VDHR is historic preservation, the landscape and environment they provide appears to be nothing more than trough of corporate welfare for dubious entities to belly up and feed on, using historical tax credits as the slop. What they generously refer to as revitalization, is actually nothing more than scaled gentrification. The important thing to note is that, of all the millions of dollars the VDHR has doled out to private developers, we have not been able to find one instance where tax credits have been used to revitalize a building that would benefit the public, such as revitalizing a library or community center that would remain in the public domain. Here in small town USA Cape Charles, they were alerted that the Trail Project, as well as the Old School Project, was not preserving anything at all, but instead actively destroying it. While they are providing a robust feeding trough for developers, they did so by taking assets away from the poor and underserved.
[Read more…]
WHY COMMENT ON THE MIRROR?
It was announced this week, that the technology and science news site Motherboard would be dropping its comments section, opting to replace it with a “letters to the editor” section. This was followed by Reddit’s news site called Upvoted that also does not include a comments section.
Comment boxes have been a part of the web experience since we can remember. That said, as online audiences have grown, the task of moderating all these comments has become almost impossible. Social media, like Facebook and Twitter are the places now that seem to hold the most vibrant conversations on goings on. This year, Bloomberg, The Verge, The Daily Beast and now Motherboard have all dropped their comments feature.
At the Mirror, we think it is vital to still have comments. We think this is what differentiates us from traditional outlets—we empower the reader to become part of the discussion. Finding out what you think about topics or news, creating a dialog, building a community perspective, is an important part of thriving in this place. At the Mirror, we urge you to get involved, and great way to start is by not being shy and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us.
If you don’t want your name out there, that is why we have the anonymous section. If you have something that’s sticking in your craw, but don’t want to alienate yourself, just let it fly on anonymous.
As always, just send your comments to capecharlesmirror@gmail.com.
We can’t be everywhere, so if you have a topic or news story that you want us to cover, just send us a note and we’ll do our best to get out there: capecharlesmirror@gmail.com
Art Schwarzschild: Time to scrap zoning changes
TO: Chairman Rick Hubbard and the Northampton County Board of Supervisors
As you know from my previous comments (both written and oral), I have significant concerns with the zoning changes being proposed and the process by which these proposed changes have been developed. Please understand, this does not mean that I am against making changes to the zoning ordinance. In fact, I agree that the ordinance is overly long and complicated, and that it could benefit from some well researched and thoughtful modification. My main concerns have been with the lack of public input into this process, and the continually shifting nature of the proposed changes. For these reasons I once again urge you to scrap the current re-zoning proposal and begin the process again, this time with input from the general public and based on the best available economic and scientific studies.
[Read more…]
DUFTY: Rezoning County an ill-fated process
Chairman Hubbard and Northampton County Board of Supervisors;
I am writing in regard to the ongoing attempt by the Northampton County Board of Supervisors to rewrite and revise the 2009 Northampton County zoning ordinance, an effort that has been undertaken with no meaningful or substantive opportunity for citizens, civic groups, community organizations, or local governments to participate in this review and revision process. Additionally, the many changes to our current zoning ordinance that are embodied in the revised draft public document that will be the subject of a public hearing on November 2, 2015 were performed extant of an evidentiary basis and were arrived at with virtually no input from experts, independent analysts, or studies as required by code.
During the October 6, 2015 meeting of the Northampton County Planning Commission, several points were raised by the Chairman and at least one other member of the Commission that should serve to give pause in pursuing the current path to expedite a final decision in this ill-fated zoning process.
[Read more…]
SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES LYNWOOD LEWIS
The Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club has announced its endorsement for Senator Lynwood Lewis in the Senate District 6 election. According to Sierra Club, “Lynwood has been a tireless supporter of Environmental causes throughout his political career in Richmond and before. He will be a clarion voice for Pro-Environmental legislation in Richmond. Sen. Lewis’ race is one of the most important in Virginia this year. It is vital that we defeat the Climate Change Denying Caucus in the Virginia Senate and your effort is crucial to his election.”
Lynwood Lewis for Senate campaign office contacts are (757) 709-9242, PO Box 760, Accomac, VA 23301
Sierra clubs notes that its support of the Lewis campaign has much to do with “the diverse and acute problems that Climate Change has brought upon us and Congress’ inability to act in a positive and sustained way regarding these challenges, it is incumbent upon the states to lead the way on these issues.”
Sierra has stated that Sen. Lewis has an extensive record of supporting issues they find critical, and has received their A+.
For more information on the Lewis campaign, visit http://lynwoodlewis.com/.